Re:Algorithms Are Now Commodities
by EGreg on Tuesday July 07, 2020 @12:47PM
(#23761038)
Well, there’s the coming up with an algorithm
Then there is the teaching it in schools to new comp sci people, as part of a curriculum designed to help you understand basic principles
Then there are implementations on various environments, constant optimizations, witness the JS engine wars for instance
People specialize in their own industryon various niches — primitives, or combining primitives, etc. And algorithms are just one part of an industry!
How many of you want to invent your own SHA1 or BLS signatures LOL
You just use them and they have documented properties and guarantees.
These are building blocks people use. This thing about glorifying algorithms is sort of an “applied maths” mentality. And models like Black-Scholes therefore become taught everywhere and become self-fulfilling prophecies.
But really, math is just a very simplified version of computing and modeling. People operate with maybe 10-20 symbols throughout the entire thing. There are many things — like the game of life and New Kind of Science - that you can’t describe in analytic form.
Then there is the teaching it in schools to new comp sci people, as part of a curriculum designed to help you understand basic principles
Then there are implementations on various environments, constant optimizations, witness the JS engine wars for instance
People specialize in their own industryon various niches — primitives, or combining primitives, etc. And algorithms are just one part of an industry!
How many of you want to invent your own SHA1 or BLS signatures LOL
You just use them and they have documented properties and guarantees.
These are building blocks people use. This thing about glorifying algorithms is sort of an “applied maths” mentality. And models like Black-Scholes therefore become taught everywhere and become self-fulfilling prophecies.
But really, math is just a very simplified version of computing and modeling. People operate with maybe 10-20 symbols throughout the entire thing. There are many things — like the game of life and New Kind of Science - that you can’t describe in analytic form.